STOCKTON, Calif. — A crowd applauded Tuesday as the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted in favor of using $9.6 million from the capital overlay fund to buy the closed-down Oakmoore Golf Course on Stockton's Wilson Way. Despite the loud and visible reaction, not everyone was clapping.
Community members and nearby business owners, like 99 Speedway CEO Tony Noceti, pushed back against the purchase.
"I bring approximately 300,000 people to Stockton, California with festivals, the dirt track and the 99 Speedway and I’m very concerned about it," said Noceti. "The neighborhood should be involved with this too because we had no notifications whatsoever that the County was entertaining buying this property."
County supervisors say laws prevented them from saying much about the purchase before Tuesday's meeting.
Even more surprising for Noceti was hearing the County’s ideas for the land which include using a portion of it for temporary safe camping until officials can relocate five County facilities to the site.
"It concerns me," said Noceti. "I have to take care of everybody here all my patrons, all my fans that come here and make sure we don’t have people on the streets breaking into cars."
A fire chief also spoke out in opposition during Tuesday's meeting concerned about the impact that the sale could have on fire district funding and call volumes.
County Supervisors say no final decision has been made on what will happen to the property and that the talk of using it as a safe camping site is just an idea.
"What I’m looking for is a revitalization of the area as well," County Supervisor Steve Ding said during Tuesday's meeting. "I don’t see this as a glass half full. I see this as an overflowing glass."
Ding, who represents the area on the county's Board of Supervisors declined an interview request Wednesday.
In a statement, the county said that future plans for the site would have to go through public input processes.
"The County has not determined how it will use this property. When actual projects are proposed, any needed environmental review will be performed and the public will have an opportunity to provide input at that time," the statement said. "Because the County is in the escrow and due diligence phase of this process, no further comments will be made until the purchase is completed."
Business owners like Tony say they’re putting together their own crowd and hope to be heard in the future.
"All the neighbors, we’re rallying. We just got done with the meeting.... We’re getting our ducks in order," said Noceti. "We understand that there’s a need for people to have shelters and different things but we want to be a part of this."
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